My first thought was “cute platypus” is redundant. I wouldn’t have even thought about the poison barbs because I’m overwhelmed by the adorableness. But since you mentioned them I thought I remembered that only the males have poison barbs. And for once my memory was right.

Maggie, assuming there are no other health issues, you shouldn’t worry until you are at least 5 weeks overdue. Well, other than worrying about the ongoing discomfort… my condolences on that. The payoff’s worth it, according to experts!

There’s no evidence that she’s worried, it’s more likely she’s just tired of being pregnant. Also five week is really, really overdue. I don’t know anyone whose pregnancy went over 2 weeks without being induced. Nine months doesn’t seem like that long until you’re your pregnant.

“Wait! What about the platypus’ poison barbs!”
Ha, yes, that was my first thought. I was afraid there was going to be some Slow Loris-style sad explanation for why that wasn’t an issue, so whew! With all that out of the way: “Awwwww!” That really is the most adorable thing I’ve seen in a long time. I wouldn’t have expected a platypus to be so social and affectionate.

We did three weeks “late” with no discernible problems. Except for answering people’s endless questions. And, yes, the ongoing discomfort.

The midwives dutifully warned about incremental increases to various risk levels as we passed the nominal due date, but when pressed replied that they meant like seriously, very very tiny increases relative to the absolute risk. The alternative is induction, which comes with its own set of pros and cons. What they hell, kid was going to come when the kid felt like it. Which hey presto, she did.

5 weeks!?!?!? holy crap, I’d be looking for an exorcist at that point!!!

Naw, 5 weeks is OK, just look at it this way.

When I was born, due date was determined by guessing when the “lucky night” was and adding nine months. This was rather difficult for people with vigorous sex lives. So the calculation has been changed. <irony> For Science! </irony>

Now, you add nine months to the date of the first missed period. OK, so when we compare these two methods, we see that there’s about three weeks slop. And a baby being a week early or late is completely unremarkable. All babies in my ancestry have been born about two weeks late for at least three generations, according to first-person accounts gathered by yours truly. Old method of calculation, obviously, but the number of babies born nine months and about two weeks after the wedding night is pretty telling, and there’s a couple other reasonable stories too, involving soldiers on leave &etc.

My former cow-orker Barry was born four weeks late, old calculation, and weighed ten pounds at birth. The last time I spoke to him, his mother was still reasonably healthy for somebody 90+ years old. So while I’m sure it can get mighty uncomfortable (like carrying a bowling ball between your knees, I’m told) it’s not necessarily a problem. With no other indicators than missing a fairly arbitrary date, the best option is to just wait. Which is not what the doctors will tell you, but it’s what my reading of the data says.